Bass Pro Shops clarifies Trail of Tears rifle situation

TULSA, Okla. – Bass Pro Shops has reached out to the Cherokee Nation after a photo of a Trail of Tears rifle at an Arkansas store caused social media users to call for a boycott of the business.

Bass Pro Shops Communications Director Jack Wlezien tells The Tulsa World that the 1978 Winchester rifle commemorating the Trail of Tears was acquired from a trade-in. He says it’s not part of the store’s standard stock and has been removed from the sales floor.

At @BassProShops in NW Arkansas looking for fly rods and I spotted this: a @winchester “Cherokee Trail of Tears,” rifle. See the white soldiers with their guns pushing the Native Americans out?